A Meeting of Fate

I finished editing a part of my story. This gives the account of what happened when my elf character Bael, met Mara, a fairy who's part crimson fairy and part canopy fairy.

http://andurilwielder.deviantart.com/art/A-Meeting-of-Fate-pages-1-7-144489264


I have a couple other stories as well on my DA, so read them if you wish. I will have the second part half done by tomorrow, at which point I will post the whole thing here. I would love responses since I worked a while on it.

heres the text:
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A Meeting of Fate

It was a bright morning, mist rolled through the thick trees, and over the hills. Exotic flowers bloomed, the air, surprisingly, wasn't too cold either. Fairies everywhere were waking up in their homes getting ready to play, hunt, or help others, and it was no different for one such fairy who just woke up with her best friend in a burrowed home dwelling inside a massive tree.

Mara floated up to Janev after waking herself up and rubbed her best friend's shoulder, "wake up sleepy head", she said before pulling the covers off of her friend, revealing a large naga tail. Janev was a gaint naga with long black hair, and a green and black pattern down the length of her body. She is also a longtime "best friend" of Mara.

Janev moved lazily, her tail slumping off the left side of the bed as she tried to stand up. "Yeah I know, today we're going the ruins" she replied, "and why does this place look just like the Misty Glade Right now? I thought we were in the Fairy Pond?"

"Because it's the morning you lazy creature" Mara retorted playfully, as she sighed at Janev's constant desire to sleep.

In the burrowed home inside the large tree, there was carved furniture, giant leafy beds, and a general dwelling area, each area had a different floor all to itself, as the tree wasn't wide enough to make a large one-story dwelling. Pictures, flowers, and rugs were everywhere, which made the house resemble something a little more permanent. As Mara Floated easily through the levels of the home, she was followed by Janev all the way to the entrance. There was a small note on a table near the entry way, with a letter to the both of them.

Mara picked up the letter and read it, "oh Janev, it seems the two fairies who lived here already left. They wrote a letter for us, wishing something about 'having fun'. I can't wait, the temple we're going to is supposed to be pretty 'safe' it will give us the advantage" she said as she winked back with a cute, but predatory smile on her face.

Janev slithered out the door with Mara and the giant naga said, "'course it's "safe" that's because they can't ever see me coming." Laughing slightly she continued to speak, "Remember our plan though?"

Mara replied, "I flush out the thugs in the lower areas of the ruins, while you snatch them from above!"

"And by the end of the day we might even leave Crisis jealous!" Janev exclaimed happily, as she thought of the giant blonde naga. She knew who Crisis was only because of a conversation she had with Vivian years ago, but has never actually met "the blondie".

Meanwhile, the Great Elven Mage, Bael approached a large ancient temple, and from a distance the large stonework was seen decorating the landscape with a large central building surrounded by a wall. Bael looked out at the ruins as he approached the massive grey structure remembering the recent events...

Yesterday morning, back in Negav, the Great Mage Bael walked out of his ground-floor apartment near the mages guild. His home looks lower-middle class, with books strewn over the elegantly carved couches and his soft feather bed, giving off a "homey" feeling. His long-time friend Kaian waited near the end of the street, and they both walked in the same direction toward the Mages Guild and the Negav Security HQ. Kaian was dressed as a newly promoted Captain, but requested no escort, as he would rather walk with his friend than be surrounded by a few soldiers.

Kaian and Bael conversed to each other as they made their way to their destinations.

Kaian exclaimed with respect, "Bael, I wish you luck on your journey. I hear you are taking your last test to become eligible for the 'Archmage' title."

Bael replied with a sense of pride, "Oh yes, I can't wait myself, but I can begin my journey anytime within the next week. I need to see a client first though, she wants me to retrieve another ingredient for her."

They continued walking through the confined streets of the white and grey stoned city, with the sun shining brightly down upon the stone and metal buildings, casting large shadows. As they walked on people were gathering outside shops to do business, buy food, or set up shop. The air drifted overhead, saturated with the smells of delicious foods. Adventurers, Mages, and families all scrambled tightly through the noisy streets on their way to their destination. Each building it seemed was tall and different, overhead walkways weaved in and out on an upper level, connecting the taller, more distinguished buildings. The magic turrets constantly moved back and forth, as if scanning for any sign of a predator.

Kaian stopped Bael just outside the large square in front of the beautiful building known as the Mages Headquarters. It was standing tall and bright, with arches and curves everywhere, runes decorated windows and doors on the outside. Statues were carved into the gigantic guild building.

"Bael be careful with Sera. She may come off nice, but I suspect something with her. After all, most of her time is spent in her dimly lit room, and she doesn't let a whole lot of people in."

Bael replied, "Thank you for your concern Kaian. I'll be fine, either way by the end of the month I will have completed my last test for eligibility, I hope I bring something important back though…"

Kaian nodded respectfully, departing from Bael and they both went their separate ways, one going to the Security HQ, and another into the mages building, and up the stairs to the assignment halls.

The Elven Great Mage Bael walked through the doors, his white and blue outfit rippling as he passed by people, and got greeted by one of his fellow graduates from the academy as he passed through. The floor was a stone resembling marble, with archways in place over every hallway entrance, glowing crystals lined some parts of the hallways and rooms giving off light. He walked forward and through the hallway to the north until he reached a room on the end. The hallway was wide with plants growing on either side. Mages walked to and from the different rooms carrying books, each dressed differently, with too many outfits to describe. Although it gave off a scent of nerdiness, this was a fairly lively guild with good company and services.

Bael entered the room and was immediately called forth to an elevated brown wooden desk. He stepped on a platform and it raised itself by 3 feet. Behind the desk was the head of the Archmages. Two other fairly accomplished Archmages stood on either side as well.

The head of the Archmages spoke with a relaxed, light voice, "all right Bael, this is just a review meeting. Here is your assignment. It shouldn't be too difficult for you, since you seem to have a tendency to survive…the other leading Archmages and I will welcome you upon your completion. Just remember that even when you complete this assignment you still may not be accepted. However I don't want you to worry. Leave anytime within the next week. Since this is your last of 15 tests you will get free services when it comes to potions and light equipment."

Bael bowed in thanks and said, "Thank you sir, I will leave as soon as possible, I just need to make one last stop first." With that, the three Archmages and Bael said their goodbyes, and headed off. Bael went down to the front of the guild, once again passing through the decorated busy hallway and out the door. He walked proudly to the large fountain in the center of the courtyard where he was to meet Serethine, the half elf.

Sere sat on the edge of the fountain, and spoke to Bael as he approached her, "there you are, I need you to retrieve Dylactyl, a rare plant that has a tendency to appear near ruins. Meaning-"

Bael cut her off saying "meaning my best bet is one of the ancient ruins nearby"
Sera replied, "Exactly, and as you know there is a temple to the north of here. I wish you luck, this important for the both of us. If you succeed you will get enough money to finally buy that house you've been wanting in the lower-mid section of the high mages living quarters."

Bael replied happily, "thank you! I'll leave as soon as possible. I have a test to complete anyway…" with that they both departed, and Bael went to the nearest kiosk to retrieve some free potions from a mage vendor before heading off to the teleporter network. As he exited the giant megalopolis of Negav, he looked at his assignment card. It read "Exod'therionomis " along with the details of the book he was to retrieve on it. Somewhat expecting this, he climbed the nearest giant tree, and casted a multi-charm spell of speed and strength to propel himself quickly through the trees at a level to low for canopy Faires and Harpies, while following the Jewel River.

As he stopped traveling down memory lane, he walked closer to the giant temple and looked upon it's epic walls. It was massive, a tall building rising up in the center, a very angular and blocky design with inscriptions and pictures and statues all over the walls. There was little vegetation in contrast with the rest of Felarya, however, there were still trees popping out of the tops of broken buildings, and rubble that craked the ground beneath. Vines and some grass grew in places, along with a very mild form of Ivy. As Bael walked through the maze, he kept his guard up, ready to use an evasion spell. He learned long ago that just because you knew spells, or could fight, doesn't mean you're safe. A good lesson in Felarya.

However, at this time, a dangerous team comprised of a Fairy and a Giant Naga are patrolling the deserted temple grounds; and the fairy happens to enter the underground just as Bael does from a relatively close area.

Janev and Mara enter the temple through the south end, a few miles east from the dimensional gate, the entrance Janev and Mara take are through a cracked wall, which looks like it was torn open like a piece of paper. There is an entrance to a building that looks like it leads underground, surrounded by some pillars with a statue that's been knocked over, and some plants on either side of the entrance. Mara shrinks herself down, and winks to Janev before going inside. Janev then uses her special ability as a light elemental naga to turn invisible, waiting for anyone to unlucky enough to cross her hungry path.

Mara flew cautiously through the wide hallways of the large engraved stone structures making sure that there were no traps lain about. Just because she's a fairy doesn't mean she's always safe. Learning that the hard way was depressing, but it taught her an important lesson in Felarya: there's no "top of the food chain" in this world. Everything eats everything, making for a harsh environment.

It was curious that the floor and walls were lit. Even though Mara can't see in the dark, she had plenty of light to see in the underground of the temple, she looked around curiously, wondering what kind of magic the residents here used to make this happen. Eventually, she came through the hallway into a large chasm-like room. Near the edge, she looked down to see an absence of light. Not even the lights from the lit walkways reached down below, so she made a left and kept flying.

There was an echo ahead. Someone was talking, so the fairy kept flying slowly, and saw not too far ahead, there was one man talking through a slit in the wall to someone else. He was wearing hard leather armor, and had an axe at his side, with short black hair. Mara flew up behind him slowly, and quietly, making little-to-no sound flapping her wings as she used extrusions in the walls as cover for sneaking up on him. She wanted to make sure not to alert the rest of his friends, however many there are.

Mara closes in within five feet of the thug, but feeling something he turns around to see a fairy floating behind him with a happy expression on her face. Seeing her red hair, and pretty figure, he stumbles back over some rocks on the floor.

"c-c-crimson f-f-fairy!!" he exclaims, and turns around trying to run, but at that, mara flies in front of him, using an illusion, taught to her by the mist fairies. At this, the thug freaks out, and runs down the hallway Mara came, which leads to only the exit that she used to enter.

The thug on the other side of the slotted wall, opens it to see no one in either direction, as Mara is pursuing her prey, chasing him out of the building, while an invisible Janev waits to the side, intending to pick him up as he exits. As the thug races forward, he looks back at the fairy behind him, she's easily keeping up with his running, and the hallway, although wide, has blocked off passageways keeping him moving toward the exit.

"Must…keep…running…" he thinks to himself as he takes panicked breaths, running up the ramp and out into the sunlight. However, seeing him run outside means Mara has done part of her first job, and she flies down through the hallways to find more thugs.

Meanwhile, on the outside, Janev picks up the human who ran outside, slowly placing him into an enclosed area with no doors. Janev looks down at him as she drops him in. There are four walls with ivy-looking plants weaving across the sides of them, and it looks like they have been ripped from surrounding buildings to create a makeshift box, preventing him from escaping for a while.

While Mara playfully chase the thug's out of the underground, Bael has just managed to find the plant he was looking for. He bends down and sees that each of the leaves in a different shape, responding to different magic types within the core of the plant.

"Ah here we go" he exclaims as he picks the plant from about mid-way across the stem, and opens his purity-enchanted pouch Sera gave him to preserve the plant, and stuffs it inside. Luckily Dylactyl is strictly anti-magic, it makes it easier to cut with the small blade he carries with him.

"Now for the book. Wherever it is.", he shrugs to himself before walking off, so far completely unaware as to what Mara and Janev are doing just half a mile from his position. As he walks through the engraved hallways lit with some form of magic he couldn't recognize. Then again, as the temple is ancient and powerful, the residents probably knew a lot of magic the current mages don't. Bael kept walking through the hallways, which had books and various other furniture sprawled about amongst the rubble off the dimly lit maze.

"I wonder how they kept themselves from getting lost. Why are ancient ruins always so confusing?" He wondered as he walked continuously. At this point Mara and Bael were approaching a similar area. Mara was busy flushing out the thugs, being under the surface of the ancient ruins they were all she ran into.

As Mara kept running into them she used her duplication magic to help her circle around them, making them run in different directions. Occasionally, one of them would try to slice her with their sword, or any sort of weapon they could quickly get too. Once they gave up and ran, they fled down the deserted dark grey hallway, their steps echoing off in the distance the closer they got to Janev. The various thugs be they nekos or humans, all ran up to the exit where Janev was camping, camouflaged in broad daylight with her elemental ability.

The large house-box Janev had was getting full, now to about 6 people, forced her to make a second one on the other side of the ramp. Sometimes she even held her mouth open while invisible, in the temple exit, so they trip into her giant gaping maw without realizing it.

At this point only 4 people were left down in the area where Mara was. As they saw her approach they ran into a fork. 2 people went forward, and one person went right. Coincidentally, the room that was directly ahead seemed to contain exactly what the frightened thugs were looking for, but as Mara tried to follow them, a door sealed itself between them. Disappointed and feeling robbed of a meal, Mara idly floated to the left, the only other way should could without going back, but just as she passed the door there was a loud thud, and a scream from the other side that grew quiet as it went on. In the other room, the thugs walked blindly toward the center of the large room, which contained some treasures and what not. Lots of books and items were on the other end of the floor. However, as they approached the other side, the floor fell from beneath them, and they landed two levels lower.

"Not exactly a bottomless pit was it?" One them asked, groaning and turning over in pain, feeling their sprained bones.
"Yeah, these people could do with a bit more originality-", but just as he said that the fallen floor cracked and broke against the other walls nearby, sending a chain reaction. The walls and floor started to rumble, and rocks of different sizes started falling from the ceiling above, smashing them between the floor and a layer of rocks from above.

"What the-?", Bael ran into a near by room as the area around him slowly cracked, and started to collapsed. Luckily the section he was in was fairly strong already. Magic crystals around started to glow and flicker, the cracked ceiling holding itself together lightly, at least in a small area. Mara darted left and right attempting to dodge the collapsing walls and roof, but as the dust rose from the falling debris, it became harder to see. Eventually Mara decided to hide in a room as well, next to the doorway, when a rock fell just in front of her, and at that point Bael, who was on the far end of the room in a smaller room in the corner got knocked unconscious around the same time that Mara did.

On the outside Janev heard a small rumbling noise as she sucked in one of the poor thugs Mara chased out, and swallowed him quickly.
"Hmm…?" she wondered, getting a little worried at what was going on down there. It seems the inside of the structure is more violent than it is on the outside. Janev and Mara were expecting predators and at least some danger, but it seems that it's fairly empty except for what is going on below. Of course this is only one part of the temple though.

Meanwhile, in the maze of the underground rooms and hallways, Bael wakes up coughing. Sitting up, he waits for his head to feel less dizzy as he brushes all the dust off his coat. Wondering what to do, he decides to look around the room to see if there's the book he needs is anywhere close. If it's under all those rocks it will be difficult to retrieve, so he gets to the closest bookcase, flipping through the books. It seems this is a private collection of sorts, since a lot of the books here aren't repeats of what he's been finding all over the place, some have magic spells that he hasn't seen before, or different variations on currently common spells.

On the other end of the room, a light groaning sound is heard as the fairy rubs her head, sitting up slightly against a wall as she looks around at the room, covered in dust, and rocks from the collapse. There were books lain around the rocky black floor, an empty silence fell across the long decorated hallway outside, some light from working lamps managed to provide a dimly lit greenish glow. With every light footsept Bael made against the floor, the fairy could hear. Slowly realizing someone was on the other side, she stopped groaning against the headache that had befallen her, and stood up clumsily. She had just missed a fatal injury when the high ceiling collapsed, its very lucky her wings weren't damaged. It would be painful to try and regrow damaged wings if she ended up in that state.

Coming to, she stopped thinking about that dreaded situation, and changed her attention to the matter at hand. It took a few seconds to get used the surrounding dust before she started walking carefully around the large pile of rubble that blocked most of the room. The mess stretched from her right, clumped against the wall and extended into the center of the room, with the larger rocks on bottom. She saw the undamaged wall on the left side had a slight curve to it, going inward with strange looking runes on the edges. There were two glyphs of projection engraved on both ends of it. It seemed this was at some point a theater for telling stories and depicting images of some kind.

Turning around gently, with a book propped open in his left hand, Bael saw part of the fairy's body extending outward from behind the rocks. He noticed as she turned her head toward him, meeting his eyes. His eyes naturally moved from her face down to her shoulder that was protruding from behind the rocks, and noticed she wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Excuse me miss-" he stammered loudly, on accident. He stopped midway through his statement as heard himself. Since the general area had suffered a collapse, the loud sounds rang through his ears giving him a headache as well.

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still busy with part 2 tell me what you think.

Nice story ^^
the setting and how you divided the action from different point of view work well I think. It look like a rough ride for the poor Bael

thanks! part 2 coming soon. ^^

Heh, original ancients! That was a good one! Collapsing floor, then collapsing ceiling! I approve!

Whoa! First the floor collapses and then the ceiling?! GENIUS!

thanks ^^

do you think there's anywhere i can improve this?

There always is, the sky's the limit. For example, you could've put a plate on the lower floor that read, for anyone that just fell through the floor, "the complainer is always wrong".

Stabs wrote:

There always is, the sky's the limit. For example, you could've put a plate on the lower floor that read, for anyone that just fell through the floor, "the complainer is always wrong".

LOL that would've been so funny!

i should SO do that. XD

'course now its your idea, i'd post it on the artist's comments

voici section deux.

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She suddenly clasped her hands to her ears and winced. “aah! Not so loud” she exclaimed, making an effort to speak softly.

Not hearing what she said, he closed the book and walked calmly up to her, not realizing she was a fairy. Making an effort to speak serenely so his voice doesn’t echo through the large hallway he replied, “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you too well”. Bael made an effort to get it right, which almost worked, but was still closer to a whisper than anything else.

Seeing that he was wearing light colored clothes, he was distinguished from the other thugs she had seen. Assuming that he wasn’t a part of their little “gang” she was more comfortable with him. “Perhaps he could help me get out of here?” She wondered to herself. Despite having expressed some concern about the situation, she couldn’t help but feel more comfortable with an honest adventurer in the room, even if he would end up in her belly afterward. She slowly walked out from behind the pile of rocks, her clear dragonfly wings draped across them gently.

As he saw her, he backed up slowly and proclaimed “A-a fairy...!” having forgotten her first impression of wonder and kindness.

Mara stood there, used to people backing up from her at first sight; it came with being a fairy after all.

“What’s wrong? We’re both trapped here, so we might as well work together.” She said this knowing he still might not trust her.

“Well, sure…I’ve read things about fairies though… it makes me nervous…” In all honesty, Bael was scared just saying that line. He doesn’t want her to take it in the wrong way, but felt telling the truth, in general, would get him farther.

An awkward silence befell the room, for a minute that dragged on for what seemed like a month before anyone did anything. Bael thought about his next steps, coincidentally the book he was looking for seemed to be the right one, and since he already has the plant he needs, the only thing to be done was to get out of the ruins of the temple. As if reading his thoughts, the fairy waved a hand, motioning Bael to join her. Being a little uneasy, he slowly walked over to her side and hurries past her, glancing over to make sure she didn’t use any spells to try and eat him.
“So…what’s…your name?” He asked in between breaths.
“Mara. Whats yours?”
“Bael. I’m a Grand Mage from Negav” He sounded a little less nervous now. She continued walking behind him as they approached the doorway, and looked both ways.

“It looks like that whole side is blocked off from the collapse” She spoke easily, thinking about how cute it is for the mage to be so nervous. She wondered how many times he’s left the giant city, judging his discomfort right now. She quickly pushed the thought aside again, trying to re-focus herself, despite the fact her brain kept working on so many different things at once.

Looking up at the stone ceiling, Bael noticed that some minor cracks were still present. “It looks like this place could still fall at any time.” He said, getting more comfortable that he was talking about the situation instead of thinking about the beautiful fairy right beside him. They turned around and walked in the opposite direction, lights still flickering along the walls of the gloomy hallway, vines grew along the edge of the wall, twisting and turning elegantly weaving through each other as they kept trudging along. This was a sign that there was an opening nearby, however, the rubble blocked off a lot of the exits, which for the most part, confined their path along a singular route.

Meanwhile, a half hour later, Janev was camped outside the same exit as before, with the humans still inside the house-boxes. Although worried, Janev took it easy, she knew she couldn’t go inside the structure since she was so large. The current situation made her nervous though, which was evident in her twitching tail that wrapped tightly around a pillar. Over time she started digging into her and Mara’s meal to get her mind off of it, slowly depleting the number down to the point when there was only one human left.

Mara took her mind off Janev, thinking about what she was doing at the moment. It doesn’t matter if Janev ate the humans who escaped from the temple; she could just eat Bael later, but the fact that he’s helping her starts weighing down on her scruples. She noticed he’s one of the rare elven species, but that didn’t stop her from being conscious. Slowly they moved forward through the hallways and dark angular rooms, talking as a way to figure out how to escape and to “break the ice”.

“I appreciate your help Mara thank you, and if it comes to, maybe we can try and blast through the temple walls. These vines are getting more frequent, which means we’re closer to an exit.” He chuckles about the wall as he exclaims his ideas. Over the past half hour they’ve shared some escape ideas and wandered through the maze of the hallways, which helped them warm up to each other a little more.

“you will blast through huh? Quite confident of yourself aren’t you?” Mara replied cutely.

“Well I…uh…am kind of confident, I mean I-“ Bael stops, having realized answering that question could easily put him in a figurative “hole”. Laughing, Mara keeps floating along behind him, more comfortable now that she messed with his mind lightly.

Despite having lightened up slightly, flying around in a series of hallways that refuse to let them out causes Mara to glance to the side. She looked at the ground as they got to yet another dead end, “we’ll never get out of here” she said with a sigh. It was obvious that she’s missing the cool felaryan breeze, the feeling and the smell of the forest and lush plants. She is a fairy, not someone to be kept boxed inside an endless maze.

Bael hesitated for a brief moment before walking over to Mara, and tried to console the fairy standing before him. As she got lost in her thoughts again Bael walked up to gently place his hand on the base of her neck, feeling her long silky hair.
“Mara…we will get out of here. I’m a mage remember? And we’re still alive. That counts for something.”

“Sorry, I just can’t stop thinking about Janev…” she said with a deep breath “I hope she’s not too lonely up there”. Mara concluded her thought as if worrying about Janev’s safety was pointless.

“Who’s Janev?” Bael asks a little curious.

“She’s my best friend! A Naga!” Mara said with great fondness, as if talking about her was an easy source of comfort.

Mara started remembering her home, back in the fairy kingdom, the beautiful thick trees, lush green grass, and the mist that shrouded the whole area like a fog. Using that as motivation, she looked upward at Bael, with a smile before turning to one of the last remaining hallways that they’ve left unexplored. Blushing lightly, Bael took the lead and walked across the room with confidence, passing by the various pots which contain dead plants that haven’t been watered in a long time, and broken statues with more runes on their edges. As they proceed down the hallway, there are lines running across it in different material. Through this corridor there were no decorations, no runes, or pictures on it.

“A Naga?” Bael continues speaking with a slight concern for his own personal safety. It will be much harder to escape alive now than previously thought.

Changing the subject he says a few minutes later, “It’s actually well lit, the light looks bright yellow instead of a dim green, maybe the other magical lights wore out slowly, producing a green color now that makes the hallways seem creepier.” He spoke in simple English instead of using mage terminology, misjudging Mara’s complicated mind.

They pass into another room ahead, this time it’s large and decorated with broken stone tables. There is heavily worn down cloth left on some parts of the fractured furniture, left to suggest that once this place was a comfortable, homey dining section. Just the same as before, all the walls have some decoration or another across the lengths of the room.

“It seems all these engravings and carved pictures might tell stories about the people who lived here” Bael said as he wandered close to the edges of the wall. Up close he could see the detail clearer, but just for comfort’s sake he cast a lighting spell, sending what almost looked like ripples through the air as a blinding light appeared in the center of the room and lifted itself up.

“Wow a light spell, how do those work again?” Mara looked at it directly, shielding her eyes.

“Well when you cast the spell for a field effect, it finds the center of the room you’re in. meaning if you’re in the middle of a large room, the spell will fly from your position and lodge itself in the center. If you cast it on yourself, it just hovers over your head”, he says laughing comfortably. It’s annoying sometimes though because the light streams down over your forehead, making it harder to see sometimes.

As Bael resumed looking at the walls he saw it clear: the stone wasn’t actually black, but a light grey, with other materials magically lodged against the walls in a manner of different sizes and materials, they draped dramatically over the whole room.

Realizing how much time they had spent the odd pair moved toward the room’s arched exit, which was decorated in a tan-colored stone bearing deep engravings that looked like ancient letters of some kind. It seemed the inhabitants really loved inscriptions.

Walking down another one of the intricately decorated hallways Mara speaks breaking the silence, “I find the hallways depressing…hey! Whats that over there?!” Mara exclaimed as she quickly flew forward down the antechamber, Bael lagging behind as he struggles to keep up with the cute, energetic fairy. The panels and inscriptions along the length of the hallway pass by in a blur as he tries to run quickly.

Bael and Mara were getting better at talking to each other now that they’ve been going through the temple together for the last stretch of time. Their conversations have gotten a lot more relaxed now.

He watched her fly through a doorway some two hundred feet ahead, and sprinted after her. He was still skeptical of her actually being a friend to him, since as far as he’s concerned, knowing a fairy is a dangerous ordeal if one’s not careful. One bad argument could get you shrunk, and put in a bottle, or even eaten. The time it takes for him to think about it seems to have made time pass by quicker, as he just walked up to the large square door. However, instead of a wooden rectangle, there was a slot at the floor with a little protrusion, marking the area where the door is kept underground.

Careful not to trip, Bael stepped over the small top edge of the door sticking out from the stone floor. As he crosses the threshold he sees Mara hovering in place at the top of the room. A thin stream of light is glowing through a crack in the center of the ceiling of the stone ceiling. Banging on it, Mara yells through in desperation.

“Is anyone up there!? Helloooo!?”

Bael walks up closer to Mara and looks up at her, “Is that a way out?” He asks, noticing the cracks near the split ceiling.

“I-I think so!” she answers hesitantly, not quite sure. It could just be another room, since there’s not enough view space to tell. If it was, she might break down and try slamming against a wall or wait until a part of the temple caved in. They could be stuck after all, part of the temple collapsed, and who’s to say Janev hasn’t been hurt up there. Thinking about the possibility of something bad happening to Janev, she looses her concentration and started floated there spacing out again over concern of her best friend.

In a brief instant, a shifting sound is heard up above. It seems the whole temple has become rather unstable during the collapse. Dropping the book he took from the room he woke up in over a half hour ago, he put his hands facing the ground, and an orange light started glowing from underneath them, making the atmosphere in Bael’s area warmer. Struggling to hurry up with the spell, he moves his hands gently up to the front of his chest, facing each other. Three circles glow from a dot on the floor and expand outward like ripples in a pond. Finally, he reached his hands up like he’s about to grab Mara and the circles channel from the ground, and materialize around Bael’s body, floating upward rapidly and attach onto Mara like hoola-hoops.

Mara’s mind continues dwelling on that of her friend Janev, but her concern for her leaves her ignorant to the fact the ceiling is unstable. As the rings surround her body, it pulls her toward Bael at the same moment the ceiling collapses from the center. Even though it’s not quite as big of a crash as the previous collapse, a large stone pillar falls through the crack horizontally, leaving a large gaping hole where Mara once was.

Flying rapidly toward Bael with a look of surprise and an open mouth, she lands on him firmly, her naked front pressed firmly against his clothes. Blushing violently, Bael makes an effort to roll out from underneath Mara, who then gets up and resumes floating in mid-air looking up through the ceiling. The light filtered down through the large hole in the center of the roof. The large pillar has shattered into three large cylindrical sections, not much rubble lays around the floor, but as the light shines brightly into the room, more inscriptions and decorations can be seen lining the walls and floor while vines keep themselves attached to various areas of the wall.

“We did it! We’re out!” Mara exclaims immediately breaking from her position and flying up near the top, listening for any sounds.

Just as that happened, Janev has gave up, and has slithered off to search the temple grounds locally for exits that Mara could have used in other areas. The Temple can be seen partially collapsed as she approaches one side of it. The walls that surrounded the edge so far look like they received no damage at all, other than what time has done to its hard rocky surface. As Janev slithered around the length of the main temple building she saw a small hole in the ground with a pillar’s base and what looked like an underground room. It seems the temple has a giant maze underneath the ground.

She slowly approached the revealing hole, and lowered her head down carefully to get a view of the inside. Deep down, Janev hoped Mara was close by, but outwardly she thought Mara would be fine, being an experienced fairy.

“Janev! Why are you staring off into space like that?” Mara exclaims, seeing Janev as she flew upward. It would seem that during the accident both Mara and Janev spaced out while thinking about what happened to each other.

“Oh there you are Mara, thank goodness! The collapse had me worried!” Janev said with a tone of joy in her voice as she looked at Mara through the crack in the temple underground’s ceiling. Bael had just gotten up and was walking closer to Mara when Janev’s eyes traveled to focus behind her friend, and saw what looked like a robed elf.

“Mara, someone’s behind you.” Janev confidently expressed to her, giving the impression that no matter who Bael was, he couldn’t hurt either of them as long as they were together.

Mara turned around and flew down to pick Bael up and out of the room below, setting him gently on the ground before flying upward thirty feet or so into the air, looking at Janev.

Now that he was outside, Bael looked upon the clothes-less fairy, seeing her long straight red hair draping down her back close to her butt. Her slender figure arched into beautiful curves and a nice bust as he saw her fly upward. The daylight allowed him to see Mara more clearly, since the dim green lights in the temple prevented him from seeing what she looked like.

“Janev, this is Bael, he helped me through the maze of tunnels down below.” As Mara said this she grew giant right in front of Bael, her height ascending upward of 60 feet, causing stress on the ceiling of the large underground maze beneath her. As he looked up, he saw, what looked like to him, a natural predatory expression and backed up slowly.

“I have to thank you then Bael for helping my friend.” She looked at him casually as if the thank you she gave him was merely formal.

Everyone waited extensively before anyone did anything. Silently they looked at each other before Mara finally made a movement.

She reached her hand out slowly, palm facing the ground underneath him as her wings folded against her back, making her stand before him instead of floating in the air. Bael saw the hand move out to his direction and continued to back up slowly, fearing what the next stage of the meeting might lead to. Janev’s eyes even looked down at Mara’s hand as she saw it move outward slightly.

Mara’s hand stopped in mid extension as she sighed, and her eyes fell to the ground while she thought to herself, “should I eat him? It’s what I do right? I’m a fairy after all, but I’ve never felt in debt to an elf before.” She moved her eyes back to his ears to re-check that he was an elf, however, as she met Bael’s eyes she had a thankful look in her eyes. She realized he saved her life from the boulders before the pillar fell. The temple is still weak from collapse, and will most likely not be traversable after the distant collapses calm down.

“I’m sorry…” Mara spoke softly, “I thank you for saving my life…I must admit something…”, the next words out of her mouth she found hard to say for some reason unknown to her. “I originally planned to eat you…after I…we…escaped, but now, I can’t.” This caused Bael to sigh in relief, more than being scared of Mara now, he appreciated her telling the truth. Plus, it seemed like she didn’t have the heart to eat him. If this is her way of saying thanks then maybe he can secure a ride close to the neko village, however risky of a plan that might seem to be.

“Well, maybe we can be friends then!” Mara exclaimed, Janev had a look of “why?!” on her face, but didn’t ask. If Mara couldn’t find it in her to eat Bael then they might as well try to become friends, after all she owed him for saving her life. Normally she wouldn’t be this quick to try and befriend someone, but she felt like she owed him one. A life is precious after all.

“Well…I…will be staying in Negav a lot. Seeing you would be…difficult”, this was an interesting idea for Bael, befriend a fairy would be a great accomplishment, and would make his missions in the felaryan forest much easier. However the Negavians might throw a fit if they find out he was “cooperating” with a fairy. It was worth a shot though.

“Well Janev has a home to the west of Negav she just finished making. You could come by often!” She spoke this with a happy expression on her face, immediately getting attached to the elf, even though she wasn’t thinking about it.

“Well, I guess so…I might not know how to get to your house, I might not be able to find the time…” Bael kept making making excuses, but he paused after he said that, deciding to ask the question he needed an answer to the most.

“I actually wouldn’t mind a ride back…if you don’t mind…Negav would take a good while to walk to…” He decided talking about that like it’s no big deal getting back. It might make her feel like he can take care of himself a little more. He doesn’t want a fairy hanging over his shoulder all day, even if knowing one would be advantageous to his career.

“Sure, I’d be glad to help you back, and I’ll show you our new home on the way there” Mara replied joyfully. This would give a lot of time for them to talk about various things.

Mara picked Bael up gently, and looked back toward the slowly crumbling temple. As she looked back infront of her, she glanced at Janev who was already at the exit, waving a hand for Mara to hurry up. With that the seemingly thoughtful fairy flew onward, catching up to Janev and floated next to her as they exited the temple and flew south toward Mara and Janev’s house, and Negav.

______________________________________________

I originally intended to have a more "violent" conflict at the end between mara and bael (where bael still ends up fine just the same) but that would have been an additional page, which would make me worry about the length of a "prologue" becoming more of an official story.

Next up are some adventures that I need to think of.

http://andurilwielder.deviantart.com/art/A-Meeting-of-Fate-pages-8-14-145240187

there it is on deviantart. please tell me what you think! ^_^

That's a nice chapter, and good work on the descriptions
I'm just not sure of using the present narration here.. somehow I think it would flow better if you used the past ^^

Karbo wrote:

That's a nice chapter, and good work on the descriptions
I'm just not sure of using the present narration here.. somehow I think it would flow better if you used the past ^^

Agreed. Past tense narration makes things flow much better.

whoops. sorry, i just got caught up in the moment of it. thank you ^^

Very well... if this is the prologue, I'm looking forward to the actual adventures.

yeah, this is currently set in 2038 AU, 30 years before the current felaryan date.

I just edited the story.
feel free to re-read the second section, and give me advice.